Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-04-21
IN THE P0ST0FFICE.
STRANGE SIGHTS AND ODD FOLK
IN UNCLE SANS BUILDING.

Study of the Restless Human Panorama
in the Corridors-Suggestions of Ro-
nance and Glimpses of Misery-Pasture
Ground for Beggars.
The federal building, ordinarily known as
the postofiice, stands in sea of slush. New
York is pretty dirty place at the best, but
the dirtiest spot is Mail street, extending from
Broadway to Park row, and utilized by 100,-
| 900 people every morning and every after
noon. 1t makes no difference whether the
snow has been cleared from every street in
| the city, Mail street, which is supposed to be
cared for by the general government on the
south and the municipality on the north, is
sltlShy IN wet weather, piece of ice when
the wind whistles chilly across ii. It's a
pretty sight, TOO, this great, brown stoned
granite building-heayy, cumbersome, with
not less than a score of broken windows and
dirt galore. Let us scuff through the slush
as best we can and approach the main en-
trance, fronting the great square where stand
the Astor house. St Pauls church and the
dirty d'pot of all the surface roads.
Dirtyi All The time Immediately in
front of the doorway is marble pavement
Ii
away into series of little basins, which i'll
snowy weather are filled with slush and on
rainy days with puddly water.
| Push open the door
What's herel Mercy, what SMELL An
| analysis of this atmosphere would reveal a
| precious compund, would it noti Whom do
We see. Bootblacks, messenger boys, grDuls
of Italians, bevies of Germans, horde of
Irish, rural guests by the score, girls peeping
in the windows, long lines of expectant pur-
| chasers of stamps, warmers of coat tails, tele-
| graph operators and over all continuous
hum as of busy hives of bees
THE WATCHER AND THE WATCHED.
Who Is this gorgeous creature, with gold
! bullion on his cap, buttons of shining brass,
switching a cane right and left, hitting now
| a boy, punching now a tramp, consequential
| all the timel
He's a watchman
| He watches all these people of whom | have
| spoken, and he watches the unrolling of hui
manity's panorama day i'll and day out until
| he might, if he would, become SO thoroughly
| familiar with human nature i'll all its phases
as to make him fit for professorship in the
great college of the races | stand by his side
| sAi'Nt Fhs''S "Auu h.n otP'iNuih AVoi
| boys rush i'll Pell NEIL they approach this,
that and the other box, quickly they unlock
and empty its contents i'll their bags. With
whoop and yell and lad like scream they rush
| out again. An old lady with a coalscuttle
| bonnet a faded suit of brown, timidly aI
| breaches the officer and asks for stamp He
| bruSqueiy points TO Il window at the other
| end OF the corridor. Timidly she moves away
| again obviously not understanding the direc
ton, as she stops and asks again Of passer
| a queer looking man, pale white paper,
thin, Seedily dressed, slides up to the window
of the general delivery, and with look OF
suspicion on either side whispers name, is
compelled to repeat it, answers a question or
| two, receives letter, pockets it and slides
away.
Who is it, whence comes it, why didn't he
| open and read the letterY
| A jaunty girl, with red feather and bird
and a gold handled umbrella, passes with an
| entirely satisfied look upon her face, takes
| from her pocketbook bill, buys some stamps,
| and with nod and smile to the clerk passes
into the street, on the other side, humming to
| herself rs blithely once sang the bird
| which ornaments her hat
| AIDS To STRANGERS